Electric cipher-writing machine



Oct. 7, 1930. vP. BERNSTEIN 1,777,425

ELEcTRI'c cIPHER-WRITING MACHINE` Filed March 25. 1925 4 Sheets-Sme?v 1 Unt.. 7, i930.- P. BERNsTl-:IN 1,777,425

ELECTRIC CIPHER WRITING MACHINE Filed March 25. 1925 sheets-sheet 2 lLldOO In venia? Bywnw P. BERNSTEIN 1,777,425

ELECTRIC CIPHER WRITING?l MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Oct. 7, 1930.

Filed March 25. 1925 Fig'.3

sa smA 31'32 Java/zien' 0d. 7, 1930. P. BERNsTElN ELECTRIC CIPHER WRITING MACHINE Filed March 25. 1925 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 7n 21e/dor.'

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Patented Oct.' 7, 1931) UNITED 'A STATES PATENT oFrIcE PAUL ismEnNs'rEIN, oF BERLIN-CHARLOTTENBURG, GERMANY, AssIGNoR 'ro rrHE 'FIRM CHIEERIERMAscHINEN AKTrENGEsELLscHAFT, oF BERLIN, GERMANY ELECTRIC CREER-WRITING MACHINE Applicationiled March 25, 1325, Serial No. 181,271, and in Germany 'March 25, 1924.

Cipher-writing devices for instance electric cipher-writing machines of the type disclosed in Patent N o. 1,533,252, are known which comprise a plurality of ciphering cylinders having on the end faces a number of contacts by means of which they come in contact with one another. These revoluble ciphering cylinders are arranged between stationary end drums. The contacts of the one end fade of the ciphering cylinders are connected with the contacts of the other end face as irregularly as possible by means of wires passing through the ciphering cylinders, the contacts ofthe one stationary end drum being connected with transmitters, for instance key contacts, while the contacts of the other stationary end drumare connected .with signal devices, for instancewith incandescent electric lamps or with a typewriting mechanism. f

Owing to this arrangement the electric currenttravels, as when a transmitter point. is operated, for instance by the depression of the key of the character c, in an'irregular manner through the system of the cipherin'g.

cylinders (see F ig.1) and makes a cipher character, for instance, the character l1. appear in the indicating or recording mechanism. f

It has further become known to rotate one or more of the' ciphering cylinders with reference to the others during the cipherwriting of a number of characters so that the system of the changing of characters is altered and at the next following depression of the character key c, for instance, the character m will be operated in the indicating or recording mechanism.

It may further be mentioned that there are as many contact points on the ciphering cylinders as there are signs to be changed, for

instance 26 contacts corresponding with 26 letters of the alphabet. The ciphering cylinders will,in this case, 'resume the initial posi- `tion after a comparatively few ciphering operations, so that, in the example selected, the character c, for instance will again cause thetyping of the character L, e. g. the same period of eiphering will start again. The

shorter a ciphering period is the easier will it be to decipher the ciphered text-by uninitiated persons.

According to the invention an arrangement is made which makes the ciphering periods very long so that the deciphering by uninitiated persons by observation of repeated changes of 4character is ble. Care has to be taken, that the ciphering cylinders shall be easily brought into a predetermined position the one with 'regard to the others, that this position is rendered easily recognizable and that the cipheringcylinders can be easily brought back to any initial position. Y

An embodiment of the invention is shown, by waybf example, in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspectivel view of four ciphering wheels with their contact points and driving mechanisms. '(F or better illustrating the course of the current the ciphering wheels are shown at a slight distance from one another).

Fig. 2 shows a plan view of the cipheringwheels and part of the driving and adjusting mechanism, partly in section. Fig. 3 shows one of the four ciphering .cylinderswith their driving means and in a position dili'erent to that of Figs. 1 and 2.

F ig.' 4 shows the same cipher-ing cylinder with thedriving means, as shown in Fig.. 3, but'- with a .diierent position of the driving means to that- -shown in F igs.51, 2 and.V

In Fig.v1 onlysix contact points are shown for clearness sake, a greater number of contact points beingindicated in Fig. 2 in acpractically impossicordan'ce with t-h e\ real construction of the Y machine. i

The Fig. 3 shows the position of the driving wheels, indicated on thedriving wheel 17, in which the driving wheel and the gap toothed wheel 21 are disengaged and the regularly toothed wheel 17 is in engagement with the gear wheel rim 1a. This position has for its object toturn the cphering cylinder l'by means of the knob 25 in order to adjust this ciphering cylinder relatively to the others in a predetermined position and thus adjust a new. code key.

Fig.. 4 .shows how both driving wheels 21 and 17 are completely ont of engagement with the gear wheel rim la, whereas the toothedv wheel 12 now engages lwith the wheel 17 relatively to the gaps of the gear.

Wheel rim 1a so long as the two toothed wheels are mutually disengaged.

In the form of construction illustrated by Way of example four ciphering wheels 1', 2, 3 and 4 are arranged between stationary end drums 6 and 7 so that saidciphe'ring wheels can rotate upon shaft 5. These ciphering wheels have each a toothed .crown 1a, 2?, 3a; 4a. Four shafts 8, 9, 10, 11 are arranged outside the ciphering wheels) each shaft carrying a spur wheel 12V, 13, 14, 15 respectively and all these spur Wheels are driven at the same time from a common driving element, for instance a spur wheel 16. On the end of each 'shaft 8, 9, 10, 11 opposite to the spur Wheels 12, 13, 14, 15 a regular toothedA wheel 17, 18, 19, 20 respectively is arranged and further at the side of each regular toothed wheel a mutilated toothed wheel 21, 22, 23, 24 respectively which has only a few teeth and very wide gapsbetween the teeth. The shafts 8, 9, 10, 11, are adapted to be moved in longitudinal direction to be adjustedinto different positions with the aid of knobs 25, 26,' 27, 28 (Fig. 2) fixed onthe ends of the shafts on which the spur wheels are keyed, each shaft having three notches 30, 31, 32 with one of which a suitable locking element 8a engages to lock the shaft in the adjusted position. Of the three positions of leach shaft 8, 9, 10, v11, two positions correspond each to a drive condition for the code wheels, namely a drive by means of the mutilated gears 21, 22, 23, 24 and a drive by means of the regularly toothed gears 17 18, 19, 20 while the third position renders possible completely free rotation of the said shafts without any connection with the code Wheels for the purpose of adjustlment of the -mutilated gears before their connection with the code wheels. rlhe actual position of the driving shafts is indicated by marks, for instance characters, appearing either at the right, at the left or' at the middle in windows 33, 34, 35 arranged in sleeves 36, 37 38 and 39 mounted on the knobs25, 26, 27, 28; Y

The divisions of the driving wheels 12, 13, 14, 15 and consequently of the regular toothed wheels 17, 18, 19, 20 and the mutilated toothed wheels 21,v 22,v 23,24 correspond,

. according to the invention, tov prime numbers or numbers which have no common factor. `For the-divlsions -of the Wheels menltoothed wheels for the driving of theciphering wheels is further (selected, according to the invention, so'that 1t is not a multiple` of the divisions of the ciphering Wheels (con- 'tact number, for instancel 26). Consequently the total period of the 11 X 15 X 17 X 19 X 26= 1385670.

If, for each ciphering, one should start ciphering is from the same initial position' the ciphering lperiods would repeat themselves every time accurately in the same manner, e. g. the succession of the alterations of changing would always be the same in this period. In order Ato avoid this the ciphering is started every time or after a certain number of cipherings have been done, with a new initial position of the driving wheels. 1

When the shafts of the driving Wheels are at the eXtreme left position so that neither the regular toothed Wheels nor the mutilated toothed wheels are in gear with the toothed crowns of the ciphering Wheels, each shaft can be rotated independently of the others with the aid of its knob so that the driving wheels can be brought to any desired initial position indicated by the characters appearing in the windows of the knob-sleeves 36, 37, 38, 39.

When the shafts 8 to 11 are shifted in such a manner that the fully toothed Wheels and the mutilated Wheels for instance, 17 and 21, respectively, of shaft 8- (Fig. 2) are disengaged `from spur gears on the cipher cylinders, for instance, gear 1a of the cipher cylinder 1 (Fig. 2), it is possible that when the shafts are reshiftedone tooth of the full gear will not enter into a gap of the-corresponding spur gear of the ciphering cylihder, but

' will abut against the side thereof. This diliiculty is overcome in the following manner:

Adjacent the driving gear 16, which is in engagement With a corresponding toothed wheel 12 (Fig. 2) as long as the mutilated gears are in engagement with the corresponding spur gear of the ciphering cylinder, an auxiliary gear 40 is provided, which can be turned manually corresponding tothe tooth spacing and which has the same number of teeth as the driving gear 16, there being a stop device 40a engaged with the teeth of the gear 40 to maintain the same in stepped position. en in the shifting of the shaft 8 (Fig. 2) to the left, the gear 12 comes out of engagement with the driving gear 16, so that, itis located between the 'hand side, the. fully toothed gear 17 comes out of engagement with the spur gear la.

latter and the auxiliary gear 40, the fully As the shaft 8 is further shifted towards the left- However, before this takes yplace the gear 12 engages the gear 40, and the shaft 8, is, therefore, held in the proper position and cannot rotate. When the shaft 8 again is reshifted. towards the right-hand side the teeth of the fully toothed gear 17 must positively engage the spaces between the teeth of the spur gear la, and proper meshing of the gear teeth is? assured. The same function which has been just described in regard to shaft 8 (Fig. 2) refers, of course, also to the other shafts 9 If the knobs are pulled and the driving shafts shifted to the right the mutilated toothed wheels are brought in engagement with the toothed crowns of the ciphering wheels.

When the ciphering'wheels have to be adjusted to a predetermined initial position it is only necessary to bring the regular toothed `wheels in gear with ,the toothed crowns ofV the ciphering wheels by shiftingthe knobs into the middle position, whereupon, by rotating the knobs and consequently the driving shafts, a predetermined position can. be given to each individual ciphering wheel. To indicate these positions rings 41, 42, 43, 44 respectively are fixed on the ciphering v wheels which rings are marked with characters, as indicated on the ring 42 one of which appears, according to the posi-tion to -which the ciphering wheel has been adjusted in a window45 arranged for this purpose.

In order to bringtheciphering wheels into a predetermined position with regard to one another that is, to adjust the code device to a certain code key, so that certain letters appear in the windows 45, the following device is provided.

A crank 46 can be inserted into one of the adjusting knobs, for instance linto knob 25,

.but only when this knob is in such a position that the multilated toothedv wheel is in gear with the toothed crown of the ciphering, wheel. In this casethe spur wheel 12 is in engagement with the common driving wheel 16, and when knob 25 is rotated-all the shafts 8, 9, 10, 11 and consequently allithe ciphering wheels will be adjustedV with regard to one another through the intermediary of said mutilated toothed wheels.

The shaft'8 is secured to thev knob 25 by a ,pin 25 so that the shaft also rotates when -theknob 25 is turned. 4The knob 25 has internally a longitudinal bore 25a and also a transverse bore 251. The transverse bore 25h has a substantially less diameter than the longitudinal bore 25a. There is inserted in the4 transeverse bore a pin 48, which is normally.

held by a spring 48 in such a manner that the knob of the pin bears a ainst the sleeve. 36. The said knob 48 has a attened member 49 which, however, does not extend over the -full height of the inner bore 25d of the knob 25. The crank 26 has a cylindrical member 46a which changes into a bifurcated member 46". This bifurcated member isonly'so high that it corresponds with the flattened member 49 of the pin 48. When inserting the crank of the cylindrical member 46EL in the knob 25, the bifurcated member 46" engages with the pin 48 on the vflattened part so that when turning the crank, the knob 45 and also the shaft 8 is turned. Since in .theoperative position (Fig. 2) the toothed wheel 12 engages with the toothed wheel 16 and the toothed wheel 16 again engages with the toothed wheels 13, 14, l5, all shafts 8, 9, 10, 11 will be turned when thecrank 46 is turned.

If the shaft 8 is `to be broughtout of the position according to Fig. 2 into the position according to Fig. 3, the knob 25 is taken hold of by the hand and advanced in the direction of the arrow A. This is, however, only possible when the pin 48 is first pressed inwardly so as to permit the said displacement. The position of the knob 25 is shown in Fig. 3.

If the knob 25 is to be further advanced in the directionof the arrow A, it occupies the both sides of said cipheringwheels, a transmitting device, a receiving device, irregular electric connections between said transmitter and said receiver and passing through said ciphering wheels, a toothed crown on each ciphering wheel, and driving wheels enga-ging with said toothed crowns and having each a different number of teeth without common factor.

2. An arrangement for electric ciphering machines comprising in combination, a number of ciphering wheels, contact points on both sides of said ciphering wheels, a transmitting device, a receiving device, irregular electric connections between said transmitter and said receiver and passing through said ciphering wheels, a toothed crown on each ciphering wheel, and driving wheels engaging with said toothed crowns and having each a different number of teeth according to prime numbers.

3. An arrangement for electric ciphering' machines comprising in combination, a number of cipherlng wheels, Contact po1nts on both sides of. said ciphering wheels, a transf ing with said toothed crownsand having each a different number of teeth without common lthe number of fee factor, the different numbers of teeth being selected so that they are not a multiple of 4ing steps necessary for one revolution o-f the ciphering Wheels.

4; An arrangement for electric ciphering machines comprisingincombination a number of ciphering wheels, contact points on both sides of said ciphering wheels, a transmitting device, a receiving device, irregular electric connectionsbetween said transmitter and said receiver and passing through said ciphering wheels, a. gap toothed wheel for each cipheringwheel, a/regular toothed -wheel for each ciphering wheel, a common shaft for ach gapand regular ltoothed wheel, said shaft being shiftable in longitudinal direction,

means at the other endsof said shafts for rotating and' shifting said shafts, and means for indicating the'actual position of said shafts and for locking said shafts in the acual position. o

` 5. An arrangement for electric ciphering machines comprising, in combination, a number 'of ciphering wheels, contact points on bothsi/des .of said ciphering wheels, a transmitting device,a receiving device, irregular electric connectionsfbetween said transmitter and said receiver and passing through said ciphering wheels, a gap toothed wheel for veach ciphering wheel, a regular toothedl wheel "foreach ciphering wheel,.a common shaft for each gap and regular toothed wheel, said shaft being shiftable in longitudinal direction, means at the other ends of said shafts for` l rotating and shifting said shafts, and means for indicating .the actual position of said shafts'and f or locking said shafts in the actual position, a common driving wheel for the shafts of. all the driving wheels of the'ciphering wheels,A said common driving wheel acting upon the'spur wheels of-said shafts and. being -disengaged vof said spur wheels when said-shafts are shifted out of the driving posiv tion.

said shafts and for locking said shafts in the t actual position, a common driving wheel forI acting upon the spur wheels of said shafts ,i

and being disengaged ,of said spur wheels when said shafts are shifted out of the driving position, anauxiliary toothed wheel, besides the common driving wheel, gearing when said driving shaft is out of the working position, with the spur wheels of each driving shaft, which, when the shafts are in the working position, gear with said common driving wheel and permit thus only a stepwise shifting of said driving shafts from tooth to tooth.

7. An arrangement for electric ciphering machines comprising in combination a numv ber of ciphering wheels, contact points on v both sides of said ciphering wheels, a transmitting device, a receiving device, irregular electric connections between said transmitter and said receiver and passing through said ciphering wheels, a gap toothed wheel for each ciphering wheel, a regular toothed wheel Ifor each ciphering wheel, a common shaft for each gap and regular toothed wheel said shaft being shiftable in longitudinal direc# tion, means at the other ends of said shafts for rotating and shifting saidshafts, and means for -indicating the actual position of said shafts and for locking said shafts in the actual position, a knob at the end of each shaft for rotating and shifting said shafts, sleeves', one for each knob, enclosing a portion of said knob,. and a window in each sleeve 'behind which asign appears to indicate the position of said shaft.

8. An arrangement for electric ciphering machines comprising in combination a-number of ciphering Wheels, contact points on both sides of said ciphering wheels, a transelectric connections between said transmitter and said receiver and passing through said ciphering Wheels, operatingmeans for each ciphering wheel and for moving said cipher-v ing wheels after each ciphering sign in a different manner with regard to one another, rings on said ciphering wheels each ring being marked with a number-of characters co1'- responding to the number of contact points, one of said characters appearing in a window of the ciphering device and indicating the ac? tual position of the ciphering wheels? In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

PAUL BERNsfEIN.

mitting device, a receiving device, irregular llU the shafts of all thevdriving wheels of thev ciphering wheels, said common` driving wheel 

